A spark to new thinking and wholehearted engagementA powerful catalyst for change

James Fallon

Profile

James is Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology at the University of California, Irvine. Dr. Fallon is a Sloan and NIH RCDA Research Scholar, a Senior Research Fulbright Fellow (Africa), and holds Doctoris Honoris and Research Excellence and Teaching Awards from multiple institutions. He was the first to discover a characterized growth factor in the mammalian brain (1984) and the first to demonstrate how to mobilize significant numbers of adult stem cells and progenitors in the injured brain (1997, 2000) – a unique finding highlighted in the NIH Stem Cell report to Congress. Dr. Fallon’s lab localized EGF, TGFa, and bFGF in the brain, and Dr. Fallon is a pioneer in the study of the distribution of dopamine and norepinephrine in the brain. He has written broadly on schizophrenia, addiction, and the basal ganglia, limbic system, and cortex. He is also interested in the neural basis of creativity and intelligence, and in the nexus between art and science. Dr. Fallon received his training at St. Michael’s College (Vermont) and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (New York). He carried out his doctoral training at the University of California, San Diego. At UC Irvine, Dr. Fallon has served as President of the Faculty and Chair of the Medical School faculty. He is an Advisor to ASA President John Cimino.